Wantedly
👤 Akiko Naka (Ex-Goldman sales and early Facebook Japan growth; a failed manga artist who built Wantedly from her apartment to a TSE IPO.)🌐 site𝕏
Wantedly turned Japan's 30%-fee hiring into a flat SaaS subscription — matching people by mission, not salary.
Will it work? · our read
Owns startup hiring. Category-defining and 33%-margin profitable — but it's a Japan story. The casual-visit norm and startup niche cap how far the model reaches abroad.
01How the money moves
Startups post roles by mission — no salary, no resume
→
Candidates click 'Visit' for a casual meeting
→
Companies pay a flat monthly subscription to keep hiring
02The numbers
$33M/yrFiledOp. revenue, FY25 (listed)
FY2025-08source:
49 oku 883 man yen (JPY 4.91B operating revenue)
Profitable: about 33% operating margin in FY2025 (Aug) — not a cash-burning startup. irbank 3991
FY2025 (Aug): about 4.9B yen revenue (about $33M) at about 33% operating margin — profitable and TSE Growth-listed.
🔒
You have the verdict. Members get the work behind it.
- The CENTS scorecard — where it's strong, where it's soft
- The founder's key move, and the counter-move
- How it could die — the evidence, and how sure we are
- The case against our own call
- A 🚀 launchpad prompt — the case, as a plan for your business
We rate our own confidence — and argue against ourselves. Nobody else in this category does.
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See a full teardown, free → ImportYetiSourcesSources last checked 25 August 2026
Wantedly IR — financials (FY2025, ended Aug)irbank 3991 — revenue and profit historyWantedly pricing — flat subscription plansWhat is Wantedly — mission matching, 44k+ companiesJapan Times — Akiko Naka profile
Revenue is first-party/official: Wantedly is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (Growth, ticker 3991). FY ending Aug 2025 operating revenue was about 4.9B yen (about $33M) with operating profit about 1.64B yen — roughly 33% operating margin — per irbank filings and Wantedly IR. USD figures are conversions at about 150 yen per dollar. Company count (44k+) and 4.5M registered users are Wantedly-stated. The keyMove (flat subscription vs 30-35% agency success fee) is documented via the pricing page and Japan recruiting-market sources. The revenue-ceiling counter, the rivals cost index, and the 'dies' scenario are [our read]. IPO year (2017) and 'youngest woman to lead a TSE IPO' are widely reported but not re-verified first-party here. We never score you.